IF SIR Clive Woodward is developing a complex about disciplinary procedures in New Zealand, he has every reason to do so. On virtually every visit he has made to the country, as coach and manager, an issue has developed that has proved costly for his team but far less so for his hosts.
In 1998 he saw Danny Grewcock become only the second England player to be sent off in an international. In the same game against the All Blacks, in Dunedin, there was reckless trampling of Graham Rowntree by Ian Jones, which came close to damaging the Leicester prop’s eye, but no action was taken.
In 2003, when England achieved their backs-to-the-wall win in Wellington, Ali Williams trampled on Josh Lewsey’s head at a ruck but again, despite an outcry by the England management, no action was taken. Last year Simon Shaw was sent off against New Zealand in Auckland but escaped a ban on a technicality, while Grewcock was suspended for dangerous use of the boot.
Now another team coached by Woodward has apparently suffered the same treatment after the refusal of Willem Venter, the match commissioner, to acknowledge that there was a case worthy of examination when Brian O’Driscoll was upended in Christchurch and his career as Lions captain ended. Woodward’s argument is not that Venter should necessarily agree with his conclusion after reviewing tapes of the incident but that he should at least take evidence from the injured player, from Gareth Thomas, the closest Lions player, and the touch judge, Andrew Cole, who was only a couple of metres away.
No one, not even O’Driscoll, suggests that he was targeted by New Zealand’s players — so many TV cameras are used at high-profile games it is immensely hard to “take out” a key player — but this has not always been the case. Visiting teams to New Zealand from the British Isles have long held the view that individuals have been marked out by the opposition for special treatment and, indeed, on this Lions tour former All Blacks have appeared in print urging the provincial teams to batter the Lions in the hope of increasing the likelihood of success in the international series.
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Ollie Campbell, of Ireland, found the 1983 Lions tour of New Zealand a difficult experience, the 1977 Lions tour here was marred by over-aggressive play while, in 1971, the Lions lost both their prospective international props, Ray McLoughlin and Sandy Carmichael, who were punched out of contention by their provincial hosts.
COMMENT: DAVID HANDS
IF Willem Venter, the South African match commissioner in Christchurch, watched precisely the same tapes as the Lions made available to the media in Wellington last night, it is hard to conceive why he should have dismissed so readily the touring side’s claim for further examination of the Brian O’Driscoll incident.
The tapes plainly show the player grasped by two New Zealanders while in the middle of a ruck, lifted upwards so that his head is pointing down, and then on the ground. It would be impossible to determine intent but the position in which O’Driscoll was held, and his subsequent injury, make the tackle highly dangerous and the perpetrators deserving of some degree of censure, either by match officials or the independent officials.